More than 100 workers at a Honda-related auto parts plant in south China's Guangdong Province have taken to the streets demanding higher wages since Tuesday, a government spokesman said Wednesday.
The striking workers at Honda Lock (Guangdong) Co., Ltd. in Zhongshan City are demanding a raise from 1700 yuan (250 U.S. dollars) to 2,000 yuan per month, after two other similar strikes occurred in Honda-related plants since May 17, said Liu Zhiwei, a spokesman of Zhongshan City Government.
Local government was mediating the talks between the workers and their employer, Liu said.
Liu said Honda Lock (Guangdong) Co., Ltd., a Sino-Japanese joint venture with more than 200 workers, is an auto lock supplier for Honda. But Honda is not a shareholder of the company and has no direct involvement in its management or operation.
The first strike, from May 17 to June 1 at Nanhai Honda Auto Parts Manufacturing Company in Guangdong's Foshan City, ended with a 600 yuan per month pay rise for the workers.
The second, which began on Monday, is still ongoing at Foshan Fengfu Autoparts Co. Ltd, Honda's part supplier.
Two factories of Honda's joint venture Guangqi Honda in Huangpu District and Zengcheng City, Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province, had to suspend production because of the strike at Fengfu as it is Honda's sole supplier of mufflers and other exhaust system parts, said Zhu Linjie, spokesman for Honda in Beijing.